New RulesInternational students enrolled in universities in China will have to attend compulsory courses in Chinese language and culture beginning from next month, according to new rules announced by China’s ministry of education in conjunction with the ministries of foreign affairs and public security.

Like many of China’s updates on regulations, there’s a lot that formalizes standard bureaucratic procedure, or prescribes standards that most observers would consider innocuous and within reason. Article 13 states that Chinese universities can accept international transfer students. Article 19 states that schools can let foreign students write their these in languages other than Chinese.

Article 25 states: “Institutes of higher education must demonstrate to foreign students, with Chinese law and regulations, school regulation, national spirit and school spirit, and traditional Chinese culture and custom and other elements in its education content.”

International students can keep their beliefs and customs but institutions must not provide them venues for religious expression, the document says. It adds that proselytising, religious gatherings or religious activities are not permitted on campus.

Business Insider wrote the new regulations are aimed at regulating schools’ admission as well as “the cultivation and management” and “convenience” of international students studying in schools in China.

In China, foreign student figures see year-to-year increases – last year, they numbered more than 440,000 and came from 205 countries and regions.

Now under the new rules, foreign students must have “instructors” as well, a practice similar to the “political instructors” employed for Chinese students who oversee their political and ideological education, though Business Insider notes that the new rules on instructors for foreign students did not mention a political aspect to it.